By the second kidnapping she had filed for a divorce, Broberg said. After earning the Broberg family's trust with his charismatic personality, Berchtold began grooming daughter Jan (Mckenna Grace and Hendrix Yancey in different time periods) in 1972, and. All rights reserved. Wish he had gotten help somehow if he indeed suffered terrible abuses himself. We stayed in a hotel for a long time until she got an apartment, and within a few weeks of us moving there, Bob was coming by the apartment and having dinner with us. On Oct. 17, 1974, Robert Berchtold picked up his young neighbor Jan Broberg from her piano lessons in Pocatello, Idaho, so he could, he claimed, take her horseback riding. Robert Berchtold and Jan Broberg. Ad Choices, Broberg, who first shared the true story of her kidnapping in the documentary, Jimmy Kimmel Roasts Fragile Snowflake Donald Trump for Allegedly Trying to Censor Him. I never saw a psychiatrist or a therapist. For years, actress Jan Broberg kept the story of childhood sex abuse she endured at the hands of a family friend mostly private. After becoming fast friends with a new family called the Berchtolds, the Brobergs noticed that the charismatic fun dad Robert Berchtold (known as B) seemed overly interested in Jan. He was like a second father to me, Jan explains, before detailing her memories of how he drugged and molested her. Between 1972 and 1976 he groomed Broberg and abducted her twice: once at the age of 12 and the second time when she was 14. The 31-year-old Belgian filmmaker tackles the crisis of connection among teen boys in his second film, now an international feature Oscar nominee. Filmmaker Skye Borgman on the unbelievable twists and turns of the Jan Broberg kidnapping case, and the pieces of the story that didnt make it into her documentary, on Netflix. Berchtold went from seducing both Bob and Mary Ann, driving them apart while learning their weakness simultaneously. This all culminated in Berchtolds first abduction of Jan Broberg in 1974. The Disturbing Story Of Robert Berchtold, The Pedophile Who Kidnapped And Assaulted His Neighbors Daughter Twice. How are you, Susan? The Brobergs were going to call the police until Gail Berchtold, Roberts wife, asked them not to. We will do a better job. Berchtold died in 2005, according to an obituary, which says he was a truck driver. Was your deprogramming gradual over the years, or was there one turning point in your life where everything clicked? We will find the advocacy and the legal ways to put serial predators behind bars. Broberg, now. He would pick me up from school and take me to his place, his motor home, our place or just in the car in the middle of nowhere. They didnt forgive him. I never go anywhere [for a speaking engagement] where it didnt happen to somebody in that room or to somebody close to them in that room. Watch the exclusive trailer for the sharp upcoming series, starring Washington as a single mom whose father (Delroy Lindo) comes to live with her after being released from prison. He first kidnapped Jan when she was 12-years-old. Although Berchtold feigned ignorance regarding Jans whereabouts, Welsh and investigators knew he was responsible for her disappearance. It happened to my whole family, this man was a master and my parents saved my life. NetflixJan Broberg works as an actress, known for roles in Everwood and Criminal Minds. They are curious about where the real Robert Berchtold is now. Where are you in the healing process now? As Jans 16th birthday approached, Berchtolds contact became less frequent. The twisted tale began in the early 70s in the small town of Pocatello, Idaho. Average Age & Life Expectancy Robert E Berchtold lived 5 years shorter than the average Berchtold family member when he died at the age of 69. The series stars McKenna Grace as Jan, along with Jake Lacy as Robert "B" Berchtold, . I remember waking up in the morning and not feeling well at all. Then, on Christmas Eve, Gail Berchtold stopped by the Brobergs house and asked them to drop any charges against her husband, presenting them with affidavits to sign. Before we moved to Salt Lake City, my mother had been so overprotective of me that I wasn't allowed to play in the front yard by myself. Their childhood was . As we have discussed above Gail was the ex-wife of Robert Berchtold, who abducted his neighbour, Jan Broberg Felt. Broberg woke up strapped to a bed in an unidentifiable confined space that she learned years later was B's mobile home. While on the road to Mexico he . Information about your device and internet connection, like your IP address, Browsing and search activity while using Yahoo websites and apps. Their home energy was quite ordinary for a few years, as per reports, yet everything changed shortly . Im so glad youve found relief. Heidi Brewer on the documentary, A Friend of the Family: True Evil. The Berchtold family also had a baby girl when they met in the Peacock dramatization. This is happening everywhere right now in 2022. She strongly continues to spread awareness of Berchtolds crimes through the new drama series. Berchtolds wife, Gail, is often referenced in the beginning of. Heidi Brewer met Broberg while filming this documentary. And then this really deep sorrow and sadness for all the people, all the girls, his whole familyall the people who he had affected. We'll never know. I did what I was supposed to do. It was Jan.. How did you find out about his suicide? Its very close in every way to how it truthfully unfolded. "Many harmed by child sexual assault. Looking back as an adult, Jan Broberg has called Berchtold a master manipulator. No one in her family could see it at the time, but Robert Berchtold had started grooming the family the moment they met. Broberg was missing for roughly a month during the first kidnapping, during which she was sexually assaulted by B. Everybody gets hurt. Heidi Brewer with her son and two daughters. Berchtold vanished from their lives, but managed to avoid going to prison. My feelings get hurt easily and I have a hard time expressing myself without crying; I'd rather just shut down and stay out of the way. It wasnt about Mary Ann. S, Welcome to Love Like This?, a romance column where we, Kathleen Newman-Bremang and Ineye Komonibo, revisit some of the most romantic or not, in hindsig, Whether its the iconic early-aughts film Love Dont Cost a Thing or her 2021 Netflix hit Resort to Love, Christina Milian has solidified herself in th, This story contains spoilers for Netflixs You People. He never brought her home. Heidi Brewer, 52, is a bookkeeper for a construction company in Oklahoma. Grace M. Galarraga is a writer based out of Southern California. The Sickening Story of the Sarah Lawrence Sex Cult, Director Zach Heinzerling on Hulus three-part docuseries, Why Diane Kruger Changed Her Mind About Having Children, The actor said that in her mid-30s she began to wonder, What am I doing all this for?, Marc Maron Grapples With Grief in New Stand-Up Special. That is the only reason we told our story. I didnt want to marry her, Broberg said. Her saga was admittedly complicated: When she was 12 and living in Idaho in the 1970s, a close family friend and neighbor who was decades older, Bob Berchtold, drove off with her one day, having. It did. Now I wont be able to sleep.. This kidnapping lasted for approximately four months, until she was rescued again by the FBI. Robert Berchtold. She loves movie villains (specifically Loki), Bojack Horseman, Harry Styles and writing creative fiction and poetry in her spare time. As a result of his death, many feel that Robert Berchtold never fully faced justice for kidnapping Jan. Later episodes of A Friend of the Family (whose cast includes Colin Hanks) will cover one of the most astonishing facts about this case which is that Jan Broberg was kidnapped twice by Robert Berchtold within a two-year period. Thats not in the documentary, Broberg said. They consulted with me constantly. When they showed up at the front door, my dad would stick his hand out and go, Hello, doctor. And then they would come in and he would give them the corsage that he had made for me, to give to them, so they could give it to me for free. I kept it all to myself and kept going," she writes. I don't remember much of that evening. There was definitely relief: Okay. About a month later, Bob took me to Ogden for the weekend to meet his five kids. I found my mother's cold reaction to be just what I expected from her. Who would know? The day after the series premiered, Broberg says she feels huge relief that a more complete version of the story is available. After learning about Robert Berchtolds vile actions, read the story of Jody Plauch and his father, who killed his abductor on live television. I could do that too, but I didnt have to wear it all the time. Oh my goodness, Mary Ann replies, in a steady, even tone, as if hes just told her that seasonal allergies might be worse than usual this summer, or that two people brought potato salads to the potluck. When Brobergwas 12, Robert Berchtold kidnapped her and played a recording that told that she was half-alien, and that she had to have a baby with Berchtold by the time she was 16 to save the extra-terrestrial species]. Thats why I think the documentary was a first step in some ways because it really taught me what was still missing in the conversation. Because my happy, carefree world changed in an instantand that was the instant when I woke up with my arms and my feet restrained in a dark room and that voice, that was so terrifying. I immediately started to sob and then [had] this elation feeling. I think people get [now how] we were so close to the [Berchtold] family.. Because maybe if I had known what I know now, what Im trying to tell the whole world now [with the series]that these predators dont stop [on their own]maybe the girls [Berchtold abused] after me wouldnt have [been abused]. Despite the distance, Berchtold kept in contact with Jan, delivering her love letters and secret sets of instructions to meet with him. She has been writing about entertainment news since she started writing journalistically in high school. Berchtold, who was a local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints leader, drugged and brainwashed Broberg when she was just 12 years old. How is this possible? I never in a million years thought this guy was stupid enough to show his face [around me]. Robert Berchtold passed away at age 69 years old on November 11, 2005. The Peacock drama miniseries A Friend of the Family shows how Jan Broberg was kidnapped twice when she was a child after her abductor ingratiated himself with her parents. So we went out to eat, he took me to a movie,we got some ice cream, then we went back to his empty apartment. All but 45 days of his prison sentence were suspended, and B ended up only serving 10 days in prison. What will I risk to get it? Robert Berchtold was a well-known American truck driver, media face, retired US Army Officer who served the country during the Vietnam War and was also a convicted criminal suspect who kidnapped a too-young girl Jan Broberg in the 1970s. I'd been led up to that moment," Broberg said. Or, see how Michaela Garechts kidnapping was finally solved 30 years after her death. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. He brainwashed the little girl to believe that she was half alien and half human, and that her mission in life was to have a child with him. I'm insecure and don't feel like I deserve better. Yet only 10 minutes of my story made the documentary. The affidavits compromised the FBIs case against B, according to the documentary. Mary Ann was involved in an eight-month affair with B post kidnapping while she was still married to Bob, even though she knew he was her daughters abductor. Nonetheless Berchtold, even after his conviction and his briefest of interludes in prison, was able not only to be around children, but also to purchase and run a family-fun center as a business. Jake Lacy Biography. He was raised with half siblings, one of which looked very much like Jan, the "little girl" he said he took care of when his Mother left home when she was sick. The encounter quickly became sexual. "I was this special person that was going to have this special child that was going to save the world," Broberg explained. They were on their feet clapping when the police came in and said, Okay, were going to get you out of this room and away from this window. The drama series, A Friend of the Family, was released on Peacock, and many fans are talking about its true story. It almost feels like this huge burden is lifted off my shoulders by having the story told right. Filmmaker Skye Borgman left out a scene which featured a meet-up that Mary Ann had with Robert Berchtold in a car park, allegedly involving a firearm and her brother (via Vanity Fair). Despite the outcome of her marriage to Robert, Gail found love again. Instead, she blames small-town navet and meticulous grooming on the part . Born May 17, 1930, in Beaver Falls, he was the son of the late . Who is Robert Berchtold's Family? I finally told my mother about the abuse. Karen Campbell, one of Jans sisters, comes closest to analyzing what happened when she posits that her parents are simply experts in denial. I could read the scripts. After Robert befriended Bob Broberg and his wife, Mary Ann Broberg, he quickly infiltrated their family unit and cozied up to their young daughter, Jan Broberg. Within a couple of months, we moved from our home in Texas to Salt Lake City, Utah, which was 45 minutes from where Bob lived. Both parents claimed in the documentary that if they didnt do this, B would expose a sex act that Bob and B engaged in prior to the kidnapping. And the Broberg family, confessional to a fault, are primed more for honesty than for self-inspection. Vanity Fair: Your story is so complicated, but the show does a great job at laying out this elaborate abduction plan beat by beat to show how Berchtold targeted your whole family. The scene [in the second episode] when young Jan wakes up [in the RV for the first time] and hears the alien voices, that for me has been the hardest scene. After Brobergs first kidnapping, B blackmailed her parents, Bob and Mary Ann, into signing affidavits claiming he had consent to bring their daughter to Mexico. I wonder if he abused her at all? On the day that I was filmingIm on set and I have a little scene with ColinIm standing there, talking to those two [actors] and all of a sudden, Colin sticks his hand out to Nick and he says, Hello, doctor. And I looked at him and I went, Oh, my gosh, how did you know? [That was one of] my dads funny phrases. He told the school that he was CIA, and that they were on the run.. We, Yahoo, are part of the Yahoo family of brands. Jake Lacy in A Friend of the Family (Image credit: Peacock ) In the summer of 1972, Robert Berchtold moved a few blocks away from the Brogberg family in Pocatello, Idaho. Then he twisted that into, They want us to get married, and then everything will be okay. I was good around adults and I was a people pleaser. I really see those things as being almost separate. In 1976, he spent 10 days in jail after accepting a plea deal based on the first kidnapping, then was sentenced to a mental facility for 6 months. If Jan wasnt pregnant and Susan refused to take Jans place, she was going to shoot Susan and then herself. I looked further and found that his real Dad died when he was 1, and his mother remarried to his Dad's elder brother (common to Mormon faith). They were just extraordinary. In January 1974, Robert Berchtold was rebuked by the LDS Church for a relationship with a young girl. Thats why Im so grateful to have this series. Find out more about how we use your information in our privacy policy and cookie policy. He turned sideways and you could almost see him reaching back to start a tape recorder. You mentioned hearing from another woman who had been abused by Berchtold. That friend, Robert Berchtold, calls Jans mother, Mary Ann, and falsely tells her that Jan is prostituting herself and selling drugs. "Berchtold took her away in a motor home on the afternoon of Oct. 17, 1974," ABC News reported . Yes. The district attorneywho had basically prosecuted his showing up at that conference with a gun as a registered sex offendercalled me. We watched Planet of the Apes on TV. Shes your daughter. He anesthetized her with sleeping pills and raped the girl up to maybe 200 times. The next time I stayed at his apartment was the first time I didn't get my "vitamin," so I was conscious during the assault. He got very angry. He also ensnared her parents (Anna Paquin and Colin Hanks), seducing them too into relationships that would blur their vision and later be sources for blackmail. In the doc, he said he was sexually abused by the "help", didn't feel part of the new family (mother had other children to new husband) and slept in a separate bunkhouse. 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